I would like to state unequivocally that the commenting rules here are heavily influenced by CWO (Retired) Jim Wright's Stonekettle Station Commenting Rules, here and here.
Without further ado:
1. "Don't be a dick." - CWO (Ret.) Jim Wright, StonekettleStation.com.
This means you treat others with same respect you would Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson standing in front of you with both hands clenched into fists. Some of the topics we delve into here will be highly contentious, there will be people on both sides of the argument who vehemently believe those on the other side are complete idiots for their position. Attacking the position is fine, provided you can back it up with facts and logic ("That's stupid", is not fact or logic). Attacking the person is a zero tolerance violation - maybe one warning if I deem it so depending on previous interactions - we all sometimes let a situation get the better of us, but after that Buh-Bye!
2. Your First Amendment rights do not apply here.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." - U.S. Constitution, Amendment I
I am not the government, this is not a government blog. Me deleting a comment or banning a user for violating my commenting rules is no more censorship than disciplining your child for cursing. There are no Terms of Service between you me. If you want to say what you want with no repercussions from me start your own blog or stick to like-minded sites.
That said, I will not delete or ban you because I disagree with you. It's how you deliver your point that makes the difference.
3. Pejorative group labels will not be tolerated.
I contemplated including a list of examples but in the name of keeping trolls and over reactionaries at bay I decided against it.
Short of me posting an essay exploring this topic further you will not see or use these kinds of words anywhere on this blog. Language is dynamic so the final determination of what is pejorative is mine alone. See number 2 above.
4. If you say or do something on here that <insert personal relationship> might find offensive - that is between you and them.
Think before you submit that comment.
5. I am not a journalist, nor should anything that comes out of my mouth pen fingers......I type be considered an authoritative source.
When time permits I will try to back up my position with a source who I think really is an authority on the subject. As my wife says, "If it's not about IT you can't necessarily believe what he says." This is mostly because I have mastered the art of the deadpan BS statement just to see what reaction I get. I will make ridiculous statements from time to time.
6. If you are not interested in the subject of a particular post, I don't care, neither do most of the participants of the conversation.
Ask yourself this. Would you wonder into the middle of a conversation amongst a group of people and start loudly proclaiming "This is so booooooooooring!". If you would, then you are that asshole everyone talks about.
